Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics
Instructors’ assumptions about students’ expectations can affect the opportunities and support they provide. A survey of students starting undergraduate degrees in physics in the UK and Sweden found that they expect that their laboratory work will contribute to skills acquisition, but also be diffi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
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Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Högre Utbildning |
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| Online Access: | https://hogreutbildning.se/index.php/hu/article/view/6457 |
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| author | Kirsty Dunnett |
| author_facet | Kirsty Dunnett |
| author_sort | Kirsty Dunnett |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Instructors’ assumptions about students’ expectations can affect the opportunities and support they provide. A survey of students starting undergraduate degrees in physics in the UK and Sweden found that they expect that their laboratory work will contribute to skills acquisition, but also be difficult. Differences between institutions may reflect course structure or prior experience: for example, Swedish students have lower expectations of difficulty than UK students. Specific concerns around insufficient working equipment are more common in the UK, but Swedish students expect more explicit connections to theoretical courses. The implications for student motivation are discussed in relation to self-efficacy and expectancyvalue theory. Concern around practical work may have been obscured in earlier studies on students’ attitudes towards practical work and demonstrates the importance of including the student perspective in course design and delivery.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b0ff0ee3272149afb09f2023128c710c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2000-7558 |
| language | Danish |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Högre Utbildning |
| spelling | doaj-art-b0ff0ee3272149afb09f2023128c710c2025-08-20T02:56:51ZdanCappelen Damm Akademisk NOASPHögre Utbildning2000-75582024-12-0114310.23865/hu.v14.6457Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physicsKirsty Dunnett0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2486-5802University of Oslo, Norway Instructors’ assumptions about students’ expectations can affect the opportunities and support they provide. A survey of students starting undergraduate degrees in physics in the UK and Sweden found that they expect that their laboratory work will contribute to skills acquisition, but also be difficult. Differences between institutions may reflect course structure or prior experience: for example, Swedish students have lower expectations of difficulty than UK students. Specific concerns around insufficient working equipment are more common in the UK, but Swedish students expect more explicit connections to theoretical courses. The implications for student motivation are discussed in relation to self-efficacy and expectancyvalue theory. Concern around practical work may have been obscured in earlier studies on students’ attitudes towards practical work and demonstrates the importance of including the student perspective in course design and delivery. https://hogreutbildning.se/index.php/hu/article/view/6457laboratory workself-efficacyqualitative survey |
| spellingShingle | Kirsty Dunnett Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics Högre Utbildning laboratory work self-efficacy qualitative survey |
| title | Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics |
| title_full | Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics |
| title_fullStr | Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics |
| title_short | Undergraduate students’ expectations of practical work in university physics |
| title_sort | undergraduate students expectations of practical work in university physics |
| topic | laboratory work self-efficacy qualitative survey |
| url | https://hogreutbildning.se/index.php/hu/article/view/6457 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kirstydunnett undergraduatestudentsexpectationsofpracticalworkinuniversityphysics |